Message

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HOLD FIRMLY TO THE GOSPEL

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Key Verse:15:3,4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

  Happy pre-Easter! This year we missed winter! While children were waiting for a snowy winter for sledding, summer has suddenly attacked us out of nowhere. Now we are in the middle of March, so some may be expecting a cool spring. The Easter Bible Conference at Camp Jo-Ota is coming up. Are you excited about the conference? Are you ready to receive blessings and experience refreshment for your soul during the Bible camp?

  Today’s passage is the Apostle Paul’s personal letter to the believers in Corinth Church, where problems arose within and without. Paul wrote this letter around AD 57 while he was in Ephesus during his third mission journey. He heard that in the Corinthian Church there were problems of division, sexual immorality, lawsuits among the believers, food sacrificed to idols, marriage problems, confusion about speaking in tongues, and so on. In the first fourteen chapters, Paul gave advice case by case on how to solve their problems. Nevertheless, Paul realized that their fundamental problems could not be solved by his advice or counseling, but by their gospel faith. So Paul reminded them of the gospel faith and encouraged them to hold the gospel message as of the first importance. So what is the gospel message and what does ‘to live by gospel faith’ mean?

Part 1, hold firmly to the gospel (1,2) Look at verse 1. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.” According to this verse, we learn that the believers in the church had already heard the gospel message from Paul and received it as the truth of God. In the past, while they heard this gospel messages from Paul, their hearts burned with the Holy Spirit. They were full of hope and zeal for Christ. In UBF’s terms, they repented of their sins by writing testimonies and desired to grow as great servants of God. The words “on which you have taken your stand” mean that they put their hope in the gospel message and stood firm in all situations.

  However, as time passed by, their zeal for Christ became cold, their life of faith lukewarm, and their relationship with God superficial. They had a form of godliness, but did not believe its power. (2 Ti 3:5) Corinth was the one of three important commercial cities in Paul’s day. It was also a place where Greek philosophy and Eastern religions met together.  Gradually, secular humanism and sexual immorality began to smear into the hearts of the believers. Little by little, the believers began to compromise with this world. Since they tasted an easy-going and pleasure-seeking life, the cross of Jesus felt burdensome to them. Their zeal for Christ and hope in God began to disappear. They lost the firm foundation on which they could stand. Then all kinds of problems arose in the church within and without.

  Thus, Paul wanted them to repent and to remember the gospel which they had received. He wanted them to hold it firmly. Look at verse 2. “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” Here the words “hold firmly” mean “hold fast, grip tight, and do not let it go.” If you have something important and valuable in your hand, you will keep hold of it. You do not want to lose it if it is related to your security and safety. Paul urged them to hold firmly to the gospel. Why? Why did they have to hold firmly to the gospel? It was because by this gospel they were saved. Holding the gospel is not optional, but necessary. You may say that you are saved if you arrive at your vehicle just before an officer tries to issue you a parking ticket. You also may say this when you avoid serious accidents, diseases, or natural disasters. But when Paul said “you are saved”, it was from more than these. By this gospel, you are saved from eternal punishment and perpetual suffering in hell.  The word “gospel” means “good news”. It is the good news of salvation for your soul through faith in Jesus Christ. Some may think that death is the end of everything.  But death is not the end of everything, because after death, we face God’s judgment. The Bible says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” (Heb 9:27)  Revelation 21:8 describes God’s judgment as the second death.  It says, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Rev 21:8)  The gospel is the message of salvation from this second death. Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Paul said in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

  The Bible says that Esau, who sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for one bowl of stew, was foolish. A birthright is the right to inherit God’s blessing, including the parent’s property, rights, and power. Esau should have held fast to his birthright. However, he sold it for one bowl of stew when he was very hungry.  The Bible says that later Esau regretted and cried out for the birthright, but it was too late. (Ge 27:38). Are you going to give up eternal life for the sake of the temporal pleasure of sin?  When hunters capture monkeys, they often use bananas. They put some bananas in a jar under a net. A monkey will hold a banana and will not give it up. He grips it and holds it fast and will not let it go until the hunter captures him with his hand in the jar. We laugh at the stupid monkey and despise the foolish Esau, but how about you and me? If we lose the most important thing in our life in order to grip some perishable things in this world, we are not much different from the stupid monkey.  Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk 8:35-37) What is the most important thing in your life?  What is the first important thing you have to do? I pray that we may not become like Esau or the monkey, but grow as faithful gospel workers who save many lost souls in this adulterous and sinful generation. You may let all tangible and perishable things go, but not your eternal life. You may lose some money, time, and relationships for the gospel. But, when you hold firmly to the gospel which I deliver to you, you will be saved. Jim Elliot was a bright young man with the gifts of intellect and athletic strength.  However, he left everything for the sake of the gospel. He even delayed his marriage plans in order to go to preach the gospel to native Indians in Ecuador. Do you know what did he say? “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Amen.

Part 2, the heart of the gospel (3,4) What is the heart of the gospel? Look at verses 3,4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” The heart of the gospel is Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and his glorious resurrection on the third day. Jesus’ death and resurrection are two main pillars of Christian faith. No cross, no crown. No death, no resurrection. So why is the death of Jesus good news? Jesus died for our sins. Sin is not fun. Sin is a serious and fatal matter. This is because the price of sin is death. If you violate a traffic rule and are caught, you must pay the penalty for your violation. You will not be free from your charge until you pay the penalty. You are lucky if you are not caught by an officer. However, no one is free from the eyes of God.  The Bible says that the penalty of our sin is death. You cannot pay off your debt of sin with US dollars or some community service.  Sin demands the payment of life. You must die in order to pay the payment for your sins.

  But, give thanks to God who had mercy on us and provided the way of salvation. God paid the price of our sins through his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross and shed his precious blood. God himself paid the price for our sins by his son’s blood so that we could be free from all condemnation and eternal punishment. Some of you may say that you are okay. You may claim that you didn’t steal, you didn’t lie, and you didn’t kill anybody. Still, you are in your sin. This is because you are born as a sinner as a descendant of Adam. In fact, there is no one righteous, not even one. The Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Ro 3:23a) Men who are under God’s divine judgment are helpless. It is impossible for any man to save himself. However, what was impossible with man, God made possible. God sent his One and Only Son Jesus Christ and had him die on the cross in our place, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is the good news. This is God’s one-sided and marvelous grace upon helpless sinners like us. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We all received God’s grace. Grace is given freely to those who do not deserve it. We don’t deserve to receive God’s grace, but God so loved us that he gave his One and Only Son for us. We cannot but praise and give thanks to Jesus. Amen.

  If the death of Jesus was the end of his story, the work of salvation could not be completed. As a house cannot stand with one pillar, so the death of Jesus alone cannot complete the work of salvation. God raised him from the dead on the third day and completed his work of salvation.  How did the resurrection of Christ Jesus complete God’s work of salvation?

First, the resurrection of Christ Jesus destroyed the power of sin and death. Acts 2:23,24 says, “This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him on the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”  Paul also said, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (25,26) All men die without exception, whether they are rich or poor, young or old, beautiful or ugly, short or tall, healthy or sick, and so on.  The impact which death brings to men is fatal. Because of the power of death, people become sorrowful, fearful, fatalistic, and nihilistic. All men in all generations of human history have died and knelt down before the power of death. However, Jesus was different. Jesus was raised again from the dead by the power of the Almighty God. Jesus removed the word “death” from the Christian’s dictionary through his resurrection. The word ‘death’ is replaced with ‘falling asleep.’

Second, the resurrection of Jesus gave us a living hope of eternal life in the kingdom of God. Peter said in 1 Peter 1:3,4. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you.” Women boast about their charm and beauty. Men brag about their wealth and power. However, the Bible says, “All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” (Is 40:6-8, 1Pe 1:24,25) One young man became very sorrowful and sentimental whenever he saw leaves falling to the ground. He became sorrowful because his life would fall and be blown away by the wind and disappear someday like fallen leaves. But since he came to know the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he is not sorrowful anymore. His heart is filled with the living hope of eternal life in the kingdom of God.  

Third, resurrection witnesses.  We should notice the words “According to the Scriptures” in verses 3,4. These repeated words emphasize that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the fulfillment of God’s promises and prophecies. For example, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 describe exactly how Christ Jesus, the promised Messiah, would suffer and die as the Lamb of God. As John the Baptist proclaimed, Jesus became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (Jn 1:29). Jesus was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Is 53:5) Both the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus were prophesied about in the book of Psalms. Psalm 16:10 says, “…because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” The Prophet Isaiah also said about Jesus’ resurrection, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied…” (Is 53:11a)  Jesus himself often predicted his death and resurrection to his disciples, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Lk 9:22, Mk 8:31,10:34)

  People may say this and that in order to deny the resurrection of Christ Jesus. They say that Jesus didn’t die, but he just fainted. Jesus’ tomb was empty because his disciples stole his body or some wild beasts took him away, and so on. However, no matter how they try to disapprove the resurrection of Christ Jesus, they cannot deny the fact that there were numerous witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. In the court, the testimony of eye witnesses is the most powerful evidence in jurors’ decision making. How many witnesses of the Risen Jesus appear in verses 5-8 and who were they? They were Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred of the brothers, James (Jesus’ brother), all the apostles, and even Paul, who used to be a persecutor of Christ.

  What amazes us is not only their testimonies of the Risen Christ, but also their changed lives. In the past, Peter was regarded as Jesus’ top disciple.  But Peter was full of the fear of death. Out of fear, he denied Jesus three times. But later, he met the Risen Christ personally. After encountering the Risen Christ, he was changed. He was changed from a man of fear to a man of courage. Full of courage and the Spirit, he testified before three thousand people that Jesus is the Christ. (Ac 2:41) He was not fearful anymore because the Risen Jesus was living in him.  In the past, Paul was a persecutor of Christ Jesus. His goal was to eliminate all Christians from the surface of this earth. But he met the Risen Jesus on the way to Damascus. At his encounter, his physical eyes became blind, but his spiritual eyes were opened to see Jesus. All his sins were forgiven and he became a new creation. He was changed from a murderer to a minister of Christ, from a persecutor to a preacher of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verses 9,10 he confessed, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

By believing Jesus Christ we received two things, God’s grace and his mercy. Grace is given to those who do not deserve. We received the grace of salvation through Jesus Christ even though we didn’t deserve it. We also received God’s mercy. Mercy is given to those who deserve to be punished.  We deserve to be condemned and punished because of our sins.  But, by God’s mercy we are unpunished. Jesus was condemned in our place and he was buried with our sins. Praise Jesus!

Today we learned why we have to hold firmly to the gospel which we have learned. We must hold fast to the gospel message as a matter of life and death because it is imperative for the salvation of our soul from eternal punishment. We must hold firm the gospel message as of the first importance because it helps us to stand firm in any situation. (58) What does it mean ‘to live by gospel faith’? It means we believe in the gospel, hope in it, and live according to Jesus’ teachings, especially as witnesses of the Risen Jesus. May God strengthen each of us to live with gospel faith, and may God make America a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Amen.

 

 

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• HOLD FIRMLY TO THE GOSPEL-message(1 Cor15-1-11)-2012-final.doc